Delicatessen Album Review

What do you get when you combine the drummer and guitarist of the Tutts  with a jazz poet (not to mention a funky as bass player)?  It’s not a joke but the punch line is Freaky Meat.

To be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect when I received their new album Delicatessen in the mail. It sounded a bit, well, arty for me. And it was a bit, but that’s okay because it works, as long as you don’t approach this as a “traditional” music album and throw away your preconceived ideas of verse-bridge-chorus-verse top 40 hits. 

It’s full of twists and turns, and moves seamlessly between jazz, rock and funk, reminding me sometimes of Howard Shore’s score for the movie of William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch – which is apt, given the bands’ self-imposed “beat” label.  I was a big fan of beat literature and jazz as a teenager, so once I got my head around what the band was doing I got right into it.

Most of the time their approach to songwriting works; the band know their stuff and play well together, while vocalist/poet Shane Hollands espouses his poetic experiences over the top.  There were moments where I wondered where the chorus was, before remembering that these cats don’t roll that way, although The Lament of Paris did feature a chorus of sorts (and was the standout track for me). 

The lyrics/poems cover pretty ordinary life experiences, but the phrasing and the calibre of writing elevate it to the point where even a trip on a bus seems like an important, possibly life changing, event.

This isn’t something you’d put on when you just want to chill out to some tunes, but if you like to delve a bit deeper into your music and are prepared to think of this more as poetry set to music then I think you’d better give this album a listen.